Let's talk about Pai Gow in detail.
In Pai Gow, each player is dealt four tiles. After receiving the tiles, they must be paired up into two sets, a front pair and a back pair, before the hands can be compared with the dealer's.
Whether one wins or loses depends not only on the quality of the tiles themselves but also on the skill in pairing them.
Besides normal wins and losses, there are also draws.
Now, let's discuss Small Pai Gow.
In Small Pai Gow, each player is dealt only two tiles. Once the tiles are received, they are simply turned over and compared with the dealer's to determine the winner. The outcome relies entirely on the luck of the draw.
In summary: Big Pai Gow requires a combination of luck, gambling skill, and cheating techniques, while Small Pai Gow is purely based on luck.
Frankly, if this were not the final round of the Grand Master of Cheats competition being held at the New Yaohan, and I had to choose, I would unhesitatingly opt for Small Pai Gow.
However, given the current circumstances, I absolutely cannot!
This is because Small Pai Gow has a fatal flaw: the tiles are revealed and the outcome is decided immediately after they are dealt.
This point is deadly for a cheat.
What does a cheat fear most? They fear a gambling game with absolutely no room for them to maneuver or demonstrate their skills!
Choosing Small Pai Gow means the tiles are dealt and revealed instantly to determine wins and losses, essentially turning it into a pure game of luck.
If He Chenguang dared to have Hu Dinggui manipulate the game and make Pai Gow the final event, it indicates he is extremely proficient in it.
If I chose Small Pai Gow, it would be like an ordinary person competing against a cheat skilled in poker in a game of Bullfighting where cards are revealed immediately upon being dealt.
You think you are competing on luck, unaware that the opponent is competing with cheating techniques!
Although Pai Gow is not my forte, it doesn't mean I haven't studied similar cheating methods. Even with minimal practical experience, I still want to take a bold chance.
Therefore, I ultimately chose Big Pai Gow.
I believe this choice was well within He Chenguang's expectations.
Considering the player limit and time constraints, I opted for the simpler "Push Pai Gow" variant for the gameplay.
Players take turns being the dealer. There's no betting in the traditional sense. Similar to the previous round of drawing tiles and comparing them, the player who pushes the highest tiles in the current round determines the winner.
Whoever pushes the highest tiles in a round earns 1 point.
Conversely, the loser gets no points.
After three rounds, rankings are determined by points. In case of a tie in points, a playoff round is held. The ultimate winner of that mini-round earns 3 points.
Given that in the previous two rounds, all three of us were tied with 3 points, the outcome of this mini-round of Push Pai Gow will directly decide the championship of the Grand Master of Cheats competition!
...
According to the rules for drawing lots to determine the order, I drew the first round as the dealer.
So, in this round, I take the dealer's seat first.
In Push Pai Gow, the non-dealer players arrange their tiles first, and the dealer rolls the dice. Before the dice are rolled, the non-dealers can arrange their tiles, a rule I paid particular attention to.
Furthermore, while rolling the dice, my attention subtly shifted to He Chenguang's hands, wanting to see if this fellow would play any tricks while arranging the tiles.
To be honest, He Chenguang is naturally suited to be a cheat because his hands are long and slender, much like a woman's.
However, there was one peculiar thing.
He Chenguang kept his fingernails, all of them!
Given that his hand shape was already quite noticeable, keeping fingernails seemed like an obvious sign of drawing unnecessary attention, and he had even strangely dyed all his fingernails black.
A cheat of He Chenguang's caliber should have no reason to make such a low-level mistake.
Upon seeing this, I silently became wary.
I had a premonition that He Chenguang's conspicuous black fingernails were likely prepared specifically for tonight's Pai Gow game!
With this thought, when determining the tile-drawing rules, I chose to "skip-draw."
Anyone who has played Pai Gow knows that the dealer can set the drawing rules, such as taking four tiles horizontally together, taking a stack vertically, or picking them one by one in a skipping pattern.
After drawing the tiles, the four tiles have a "head" and a "tail."
The head and tail each consist of two tiles. Once everyone has confirmed their arrangement, the dealer will compare the heads and tails with the non-dealers one by one.
The side that wins both the head and the tail is considered the winner.
Winning either the head or the tail, but not both, results in a draw.
Therefore, after receiving the tiles, one must carefully judge how to adjust the combinations or points of the head and tail.
The combinations in Pai Gow are divided into "civil" and "military" tiles, with some regions calling them "male" and "female."
The "male" tiles are: Tian, Di, Ren, He (Goose), Mei Hua, Chang San (6), Ban Deng (4), Hei 11 (or Axe/Tiger Head), Hong Tou (10), Gao Jiao (7), and Tong Chui (6), each paired with themselves.
The "female" tiles are: Za 9 (divided into Bai 9 and Hong Tou 9, used identically), Za 8 (divided into Ping Tou 8 and Xie Tou 8, used identically), Za 7 (divided into Bai 7 and Hong Tou 7, used identically), Da Tou 6 (one tile), Za 5 (divided into Bai 5 and Hong 5, used identically), and Ding 3 (one tile).
In Push Pai Gow, the Tian Jiu is considered supreme, meaning the "Double Tian Supreme" that Stephen Chow's character, Wong Shi Fu, obtained in "God of Gamblers 2," can easily defeat all other combinations.
After setting the gameplay and explaining the rules, we directly entered the main event.
While responsible for rolling the dice, I noticed He Chenguang's shuffling speed was very fast, at least more than double Yu Shuang's speed.
Such a high speed is undoubtedly his strong suit!
When the dice were rolled and the tiles reached my hands, I immediately detected something unusual!
I discovered that the backs of all 32 Pai Gow tiles seemed to have been marked with solder.
Some might wonder how such dark, hard Pai Gow tiles could be soldered.
In reality, it's very, very simple!
Similar to marking Mahjong tiles, one only needs to use the "soft marking" method.
In the 21st century, with advancing technology, various cheating methods in gambling are also constantly evolving.
For instance, "soft marking" Pai Gow tiles.
Note that I said "soft marking," not "hard marking."
The biggest characteristic of using "soft marking" is that the marks can be erased at any time.
Unlike "hard marking," which leaves indelible marks on the tiles using sharp-edged tools like fingernails or rings, "soft marking" is done using special marking paste or gel.
When the marks need to be removed, all traces can be instantly cleared by using certain special materials.
I think I now understand why He Chenguang kept his long fingernails and dyed them black.
It's because his fingernails are hiding the "soft marking" materials and the substances needed to erase the marks!